Sticks and Stones
by Plasmolysed Cell Membrane
Summary: Yui's first week at Shohoku was terrible with the bullies eyeing her. However, when Rukawa realizes that she's Sendoh's younger sister, he decides to make a trade. His protection in exchange for information on her brother's gameplay but will his plan last


**Disclaimer: Slam Dunk does not belong to me.**

**Author's notes**: _Enjoy._

**Sticks and Stones**

Chapter 1

* * *

"Help me! Somebody please!" The dark haired girl banged her fists against the door of the cubicle in desperation in hopes of getting to free herself but to no avail. The door had been barricaded. She had been doing that for the past ten minutes since the school bell had rung and still no one had heard her.

When she realized that nobody would come to her rescue for class had already started and no one would be coming to the girls' toilets around that time, she sank to the floor with a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Across the door of the cubicle, the vandalism could not be more striking and one of them read, 'Yui Sendoh is such a little bitch.'

The fifteen-year-old began to rub her fingers over the words but they would not come off so she rubbed even harder. The harder she tried to get her name off, the more it hurt and the more her tears began to moist her uniform. Finally, she let out a scream of frustration and fell back on the ground into a fit of violent sobbing.

"Yui, you missed the whole of the first half of today's lessons! What happened?" Manami asked her friend as they walked along the corridor.

"I... was um... cutting class," Yui lied.

"You cut class? That's not like you at all! Wow, people really mean it when they say the transition between junior high to high schools really changes kids." The other girl exclaimed, shaking her head in disapproval of Yui's actions.

"I guess."

"Well, if you ask me, you'd better quit this while you're still ahead," Manami warned. She went on further to lecture Yui on all sorts of consequences of cutting class and mixing around with bad company. However, it was somewhere between getting called up by the principal and getting expelled from school did she lose Yui's attention.

Yui stared out the windows as they made their way to their advanced math class. She had not uttered a word throughout her so-called conversation with her friend which was probably equivalent to a rally speech. Her eyes seemed like pools of dark grayish oblivion, lost in thoughts.

A third year girl had found her in the girls' room during lunch and helped her to get out. She had begged the older girl not to tell any teachers about what had happened. The older student was a little puzzled at first but agreed to do so, as long as it never happened again. However, Yui knew that the bullying would not be stopping anytime soon. Once the bullies had eyed their freshman prey, they would not cease their pursuit of making her life miserable until they left school.

Suddenly, she turned to Manami and said, "Manami, please stop talking. I'm enervated."

Yui turned away from her friend and accidentally bumped into a boy who was rather tall.

"Pardon me," she said quietly as she proceeded on to math class.

After they had turned around the corner of the hallway, Manami let out a loud squeal.

"Oh, Yui! Did you see who that was? Did you see?"

"Huh? Who's who?"

"You just bumped into Kaede Rukawa! Shohoku high school's hottest sophomore!"

"Uh huh. Really now, I don't have time for these boy crazy notions of yours. I just want to get through high school and still have my arms and legs."

Yui was probably the most practical person Manami had ever met and it annoyed her sometimes that they didn't share the same interest in the relentless pursuit of good-looking boys and overwhelming popularity and status.

"Don't you get it? You actually came into contact with Kaede Rukawa! In other words, it means that you've just touched an untouchable. And you know what, I think he seemed interested! He totally noticed you. Like he laid eyes on you!"

"Look Manami! I know I'm supposed to be incredibly ecstatic that some cool, suave sophomore just rammed right into me but really, I don't care. I really don't care. I'm having a shit time in school okay and I have a lot of things on my mind."

"Whoa, Yui... you don't have to get so worked up."

"Sorry. It's just... its nothing. That guy hit me quite hard when he bumped into me."

* * *

"Excuse me, do you know which class this... Yui Sendoh is in?" The dark haired sophomore asked a random first-year girl standing in the corridor.

"Ah. Um. Um...no. Sorry, Rukawa-kun." The girl stammered, her cheeks flushing incredibly red.

"Never mind, thanks." He answered, wondering how she knew his name. He didn't realize that most of the first-year girls had joined the Rukawa fan club.

Kaede Rukawa peered into all the first-year classrooms to find the girl whom he had bumped into earlier that day. When he finally looked into the last classroom, he found her.

He entered the room and it everyone went silent even though it was lunch hour. Rukawa felt almost awkward being there for it had been his classroom the year before and yet all the faces were all different.

He walked in the direction of Yui but she took no notice of him because she was asleep on her desk. He tapped her lightly on the shoulder and her eyes flit open to look up at him.

"Boy, what do you want?" She whispered. She could not recall who he was.

"You dropped this." He said, holding out a book.

"Oh, thanks." Yui answered, reaching out to take the book back but Rukawa did not let go.

"Wait." He pulled the book out of her hand and opened it to where a photograph had been stuck in.

"Are you related?" He asked, pointing to a picture of her and another boy who had spiky hair.

"Oh, you mean Akira? Yeah. He's my brother... but he doesn't go to Shohoku, he's from..."

"Ryonan. Yeah, I know. Is he the captain now?" Rukawa interrupted.

"Don't know." Yui answered with a shrug. She grabbed the book from his hands and slipped it into her bag pack.

"Mind if you could ask for me?" He asked.

"Why?"

"I'm an avid fan."

"Well, if you are a fan. I guess I could." Yui agreed.

"Thanks." Rukawa said. He was about to turn and leave when she suddenly grabbed his hand. He blushed slightly. No girl had ever held his hand before, romantically or unromantically. His father told him it's because some girls are just intimidated by good-looking people.

"By the way, what's your name?" She asked.

"Does it matter?"

"I guess. I mean, it's only courtesy. I am doing you a favor; I'd like to at least know your name."

Rukawa thought for a moment. He didn't want Sendoh to find out that he had been asking his sister for information about him.

"Kaede," He finally muttered.

"Got a last name?"

"I'll just leave it as it is. I like to keep a low profile. So uh, let's just keep this between the two of us okay?"

"Okay. See you around Kaede," Yui said, finally smiling slightly for the first time that day.

By the time they finished their conversation and looked up, the entire classroom was staring intently at them as if they had never seen two people talking before. What was worse was the fact that many girls were glaring at Yui and she didn't even know why.

* * *

"Akira," Yui called her brother as she stood at the door of his bedroom.

Sendoh Akira was lying on his back in bed and looking up at the pages of a fishing magazine.

"What's up?" Sendoh asked, looking up from his magazine.

"Oh, mom put your T-shirt in my drawer again. It definitely smells like you," she said, tossing the large white shirt at her brother. Both of them shared a love for white tees and they usually bought them in extra large only Yui wore them to sleep and Akira wore them for basketball practice and they tended to have a slight smell of preparation on them.

"I was wondering, whose the captain of your basketball team?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"I just... is it you?"

"Yes. Why the sudden interest?" He asked, getting up from his bed to put the shirt into his closet.

"Um, no reason. Basketball's a real in-thing in school." Yui tried explaining. She didn't want to mention Rukawa's name.

"Oh. I guess it should be... they did go to the nationals." He said with a shrug.

"Ryonan didn't make it?"

"No... but what do you care anyway? You hate sports."

"I don't hate sports. I just hate it when people compare me with you in that area and I know I can never hold candle to you. People don't compare me with you when it comes to playing chess or playing the piano."

"Oh, come on. Those are different." Sendoh protested, trying to defend himself.

"Yeah, well, I'm good at it."

"I know you are and I'm proud of you. You can thrash me at chess any day."

"Okay, then I'm proud of you too. Keep up the good work, captain."

"Thank you." Sendoh answered with a grin. He was always glad when his younger sister could accept who he was for what he was on the inside and not see him as some annoying basketball jock.

"Oh and by the by, what happened to your arm?" He asked, pointing to the few large bruises on her elbow.

* * *

_Flashback..._

"No, please no!" Yui cried trying to release herself from the older girl who held her extremely tightly by her elbows and pushed her into the toilet cubicle.

"Shut up you little bitch!" Another girl who was about twice her size spat, slapping her palm across Yui's face. A tear ran down the younger girl's cheek as she was pulled helplessly into the cubicle and trapped there like a mouse.

_End flashback_

* * *

"Oh, its nothing. Manami kept poking me today... she can be pretty annoying sometimes," Yui lied. She hated lying to her brother but she didn't want him to know. She was scared and ashamed that she was now a victim of bullying.

"I see, well then. If you need anything, you know you can always come to me." Sendoh assured his younger sister.

"I know. Thanks."

* * *

End of chapter one


End file.
